Seven to be added to WVU Sports Hall of Fame

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Seven outstanding contributors to Mountaineer athletics make up the 23rd class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by Director of Athletics Oliver Luck.

Induction ceremonies will take place Sept. 14, prior to the West Virginia-Georgia State football game. This class brings the total number of inductees to 148.

A capsule look at the honorees:

Dale Blaney helped West Virginia to three NCAA tournaments and one NIT from 1983-86, starting 110 games. The Hartford, Ohio, native finished his career with 1,522 points, which ranks 18th in school history. He ranks 16th in career assists (331), 10th in career double-figure games (80), 10th in career free throws made (376) and 10th in career free throw percentage (.813).

Blaney averaged 17.0 points as a senior and finished with a 12.3 average for his career. A four-year letter-winner and two-time captain, he scored a career-high 29 points against George Mason on Jan. 9, 1986.

Blaney was named to the All-Atlantic 10 first team in 1986 and the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team in 1983. He was named to the Atlantic 10 all-tournament teams in 1984 and 1986 and was picked for the NIT All-Star Team that toured Korea and Hong Kong. Blaney, a member of the 1986-95 All-Time basketball team at WVU, was a two-time Ohio Class A all-state player.

He was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth round of the 1986 NBA draft and played a year and a half in the Continental Basketball Association, first with title-winning Tampa Bayvand then with the Charleston Gunners.

Since then, Blaney has made a career in auto racing. He was named World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year in 1998, National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year in 1990, Bush Points Champion in 1991 and the All-Star Series Points Champion in 1995, 1996 and 2008.

Blaney has two daughters, Ashley and Leah. His brother, Dave, drives car No. 7 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

Olivia Bradley holds the all-time Mountaineer record with 1,484 rebounds, which tops men's legend Jerry West's 1,240 career boards. She is one of only three players in WVU women's basketball history to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career.

Bradley was a four-time All-America honoree and three-time all-conference selection. WVU was not affiliated with a conference during her freshman year in 1981-82, when she averaged 12.7 points and 9.4 rebounds, led WVU to its first 20-win season and earned American Women's Sports Federation Freshman All-America honors.

As a sophomore, Bradley averaged 12.8 rebounds and 12.6 points while becoming the program's first all-conference honoree as she was named to the 1983 All-Atlantic 10 second team. The power forward set a single-game school record with 27 rebounds in a win at George Washington, a record she would break in her senior season. Bradley earned 1983 All-America honorable mention by the AWSF, a feat she repeated for each remaining year of her career.

Bradley improved her averages to 14.2 points and 13.3 rebounds as a junior, earning all conference first-team honors. As a senior team captain, she broke her own record when she pulled down 28 boards in an overtime win against Temple.

The Bradenton, Fla., native closed out her career averaging 12.7 rebounds, the 16th-highest average in the NCAA record book today. During Bradley's time, the Mountaineers recorded a 74-45 record and advanced to the Women's NIT her senior year - the program' first foray into postseason play.

Following graduation, Bradley played basketball in Europe for four seasons, then returned to Bradenton and taught third grade.

Bradley began to coach as an assistant at her alma mater, Southeast High in Bradenton and eventually left her elementary teaching position for a job as the head girls coach at nearby Manatee High.

In 2000, Bradley died at the age of 36.

Linda Burdette-Good, the second gymnastics coach at West Virginia, took over in 1975 and in 37 seasons (1975-2011) led the Mountaineers to four national championship appearances, 10 conference titles and a 644-263-4 (.709) overall record. The only WVU coach to earn 600 career wins with a Mountaineer team, she compiled 35 winning seasons, including 14 years with 20 or more wins.

Led by freshman Shari Retton, WVU's first female sport All-American, the Mountaineers finished third at the 1982 AIAW meet. Following the championships, Burdette-Good was named the AIAW Coach of the Year. Each of Burdette-Good's three NCAA-qualifying teams (1995, 1999, 2000) placed 12th overall.

Several seasons stand out in Burdette-Good's career, including 2001, when three different Mountaineers scored perfect 10s and the 17th-ranked squad reclaimed the EAGL championship after a two-year drought. The 1999 season also was memorable, as the Mountaineers advanced to their second national championships in four years after compiling a 19-7 record and finishing sixth at the EAGL championships. The next year, Burdette-Good led the Mountaineers to two of the top-10 team scores in school history and advanced to the NCAA championships for the second straight season.

Burdette-Good mentored the best gymnast in school history, Kristin Quackenbush, who became the school's only AAI American Award winner and a six-time NCAA All-American. She holds or shares school records on vault and floor and scored five career perfect 10s.

Burdette-Good, who coached 86 scholastic All-Americans, served on the six-member NCAA Women's Gymnastics Committee and was the chair of the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee. She was also the driving force behind the foundation of the EAGL and was that league's first chair.

A native of Parkersburg, Burdette-Good joined the Mountaineer athletic department following a one-year coaching stint at Fairmont State. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from WVU.

She and her husband, Lee Good, reside in Uniontown, Ohio. She has one daughter, Anna Burdette (26), a WVU graduate, and one grandson, Ashton (5).

Dr. Ed Etzel, the first coach to win an NCAA championship with a Mountaineer squad, coached the WVU rifle team from 1977-89, compiling a record of 101-5 (.952) with four national titles.

A native of North Haven, Conn., Etzel's Mountaineer teams were among the most dominant in NCAA history, as WVU never finished worse than second place at the NCAA championships under his watch. Etzel coached six individual champions, 33 All-Americans and several Olympians.

Etzel led the Mountaineers to the University's first national championship in 1983. Dave Johnson won the NCAA smallbore title, the Mountaineers' first NCAA win in the discipline, and WVU finished the season at 12-1. The Mountaineers went undefeated and won their second straight title in 1984, and Bob Broughton returned the smallbore NCAA title to Morgantown.

After a second-place finish in 1985, the Mountaineers went undefeated again in 1986 (9-0) and won their third NCAA title in four years. Mike Anti also won the smallbore national championship.

Following a sabbatical in 1988, the year the Mountaineers won the national title under coach Greg Perrine, Etzel led the Mountaineers to an 8-0 record and another NCAA title in 1989.

Etzel began his shooting career at age 10 in Boy Scouts. He attended Tennessee Tech on a rifle scholarship, where he won three All-America honors, served as a two-time team captain and won two National Collegiate Rifle team championships. While serving as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves, he competed at the 1978 World Championships and 1979 Pan American Games and won Gold team medals in men's 50m 3x40 and standing. Etzel competed for Team USA at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and won the Gold medal in men's 50m free rifle prone event, tying a then-Olympic record with a near-perfect 599 score. That same year, Etzel was elected to the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

Listed on the U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry, Etzel earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education from TTU in 1974, his master's in physical education from WVU in 1979 and his doctorate in counseling psychology from WVU in 1989.

Etzel is a tenured professor in the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences. He has been the lead editor and published three books on counseling and psychological services for college student-athletes, authored more than 20 book chapters, published more than 25 refereed journal articles and made 90 conference presentations. Etzel's areas of specialty are counseling athletes, alcohol and substance abuse, grief counseling/psychotherapy with college students, coping with athletic injury, eating disorders in athletics, ethics and legal issues in sport psychology, peak performance enhancement development, retirement from sport and stress management.

Etzel has served as Chair of the Association and Applied Sport Psychology Ethics Committee and as a reviewer for the Academic Athletic Journal and the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. He currently serves as the liaison between WellWVU's Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychiatric Services and the WVU athletic department.

Etzel and his wife, G. Anne Cather, M.D., reside in Morgantown.

Dean Morrison, a native of Amityville, N.Y., competed for the Mountaineers from 1990-94, produced the program's second individual national title at the 1994 NCAA championships and accumulated 103 wins during the course of his career, the sixth most in WVU history. He was the first wrestler in program history to win three consecutive Eastern Wrestling League titles and qualified for the NCAA championships three times.

During Morrison's run to the national title, he notched 33 victories, which stands as the 10th most in a season by a WVU grappler, second most at 177-184 pounds and fifth most by a senior. At the 1994 NCAAs, Morrison entered his bracket as the No. 2 seed and defeated three ranked opponents to reach the finals. In the championship match, Morrison beat Wyoming's Reese Andy 3-2.

Following a redshirt season in 1991, Morrison qualified for the NCAA championships for the first time and recorded 25 victories. He had another solid campaign in 1993 when he recorded his first of two 30-plus-win seasons. Morrison's 32 wins during the 1993 season stand as the third most by an individual at 177-184 pounds and seventh most by a junior.

Following his career with WVU, Morrison competed for USA Wrestling, where he held a national ranking as high as No. 2 in the 96 kg/211.5 lb. weight class. Among his achievements at the professional level are a 1995 University Nationals championship, a 2003 Pan American Games championship and a Gold medal at the 2003 World Team Trials.

After completing his career in 2004 as a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Morrison went to work with Beat the Streets Wrestling Inc., and has started his own non-profit organization called Prodigal Sport.

Morrison resides in New York City with his wife Carolyn and their children, Josiah and Aaron.

Paul Popovich, a native of Flemington, earned letters in men's basketball and baseball in 1960 before embarking on an 11-year Major League career.

Popovich had one of the finest seasons for the Mountaineers in 1960 when he batted .426, a school record at the time. He had five hits in a game against George Washington and was named All-Southern Conference second baseman in 1960.

In basketball, he was a member of the 1960 NCAA tournament team that finished 26-5 overall with a Southern Conference championship. Popovich played in 26 games, averaging 3.3 points and 1.3 rebounds.

Popovich, who signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs in 1960, was an infielder for the Cubs (1964, 1966-67 and 1969-73), Los Angeles Dodgers (1968-69) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1974-75). He was on the Pirates teams that won the 1974 and 1975 National League Eastern Division.

In 11 big-league seasons, Popovich played in 682 games and had 1,732 at-bats, 176 runs scored, 403 hits, 42 doubles, nine triples and 14 home runs. Popovich also logged 134 RBIs, 127 walks, four stolen bases and had a .233 batting average.

Popovich averaged 41.3 points per game at Flemington High to set a state basketball record while earning state player of the year honors.

After retiring from baseball, he spent 10 years as an infield instructor for the Dodgers.

Popovich and his wife, Susan, have been married 42 years and reside in the Chicago area. They have two sons, Paul and Damon, and three grandchildren.

Tom Woodeshick, a running back and three-year letter winner in football from 1960-62, played 10 seasons in the National Football League (1963-72).

As a senior at WVU playing for coach Gene Corum in 1962, he rushed for 433 yards with two touchdowns and had 141 receiving yards with one touchdown. For his WVU career, he rushed for 876 yards on 192 carries and posted 195 receiving yards on eight receptions. Woodeshick, who also had 183 yards on kickoff returns, posted four career touchdowns.

The Wilkes-Barre, Pa., native had a career-best 89 yards on 10 carries in the 15-8 win at Pitt on Oct. 13, 1962. Woodeshick had 82 yards receiving on two receptions in a 27-25 win over George Washington on Oct. 20, 1962.

Woodeshick led WVU to an 8-2 record in 1962, one of the best WVU teams to not be selected for a bowl. He was picked to play in the 1963 Senior Bowl and is a member of the 1960-69 WVU All-Time football team.

Woodeshick was selected in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills in the 1963 AFL Draft and in the eighth round by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1963 NFL Draft. As a pro, he played nine seasons with the Eagles (1963-71) and one with the St. Louis Cardinals (1972). An ankle

injury forced him to retire during the 1972 season.

Woodeshick had an outstanding 10-year NFL career at running back, playing in 115 games. His best year came in 1968 when he rushed for a career-best 947 yards and was named to the Pro Bowl. For his career, he gained 3,577 yards on 836 carries, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Woodeshick had 1,175 yards receiving on 126 receptions, an average of 9.3 yards per catch. He had 27 career touchdowns.

Woodeshick graduated with a bachelor's degree from West Virginia in 1963 and attended graduate school at Penn and Temple.

Following his career in the NFL, Woodeshick was a restaurant owner, wrote columns for The Philadelphia Inquirer, was a color analyst for the Philadelphia Bell team in the World Football League, was a stock broker and served as the football coach and intramurals athletic director at Moravian College. From 1985 until present, he has been in the casino marketing business. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Woodeshick and his companion, Juanita Krieger, live in the Pocano Mountains in Pennsylvania. Woodeshick has three sons Karl, Klaus and Michael (deceased).